


Tall and Proud

by Airen_Thiren



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Deathly Hallows Deleted Scene, Discord: HMS Harmony, Everything is Harmony and Nothing Hurts, F/M, Harmony - Freeform, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Never not ending in fluff, Not Canon Compliant - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, or not for long
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-18 06:15:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29729604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Airen_Thiren/pseuds/Airen_Thiren
Summary: Hermione learns a devastating truth, and Harry has to break a promise.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Harry Potter
Comments: 2
Kudos: 67





	Tall and Proud

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a rejected screenplay of the "I'll go with you" scene in the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, and the wonderful contributions of the Harmony Discord server.

They’d finally gotten the fangs, destroyed the horcrux, and were rushing to find Harry. Only two more left, and Hermione was finally beginning to hope that they could do it. They could finally be rid of Voldemort, and Harry could finally live free. With each hour that passed, Hermione found herself hoping more and more to see him standing tall. She had seen it in the briefest moments over these past years. The rare times when Harry’s strength finally straightened his spine and cast a glow from him that never failed to lift her spirits. She remembered when she last saw it, during the time when Ron had been lost to them. On that night that they had danced, and both seemed to recognize what they had been dancing around for years. That night, after they had come so close to sharing their first kiss, Harry seemed to stand tall and proud, almost shining with hope, and Hermione wanted desperately to kiss him.

But they hadn’t. No matter how much they both wanted, needed, to kiss the one person they could love, they needed to focus. On a later night, when spirits were still high, Harry confessed that he didn’t know if he could stop at just one kiss, and Hermione had laughed at how sure he was in his lack of restraint.

_“I promise, when all this is over, I will prove to you that I am an amazing kisser,” he had said. Hermione had laughed again, cupping his cheek and touching her forehead to his._

_“I’ll hold you to that,” she had whispered._

With everything that happened after, Malfoy Manor, Harry killing Bellatrix for threatening Hermione, the Gringotts break-in, sneaking into Hogwarts, and witnessing Snape’s death, Hermione had almost forgotten that promise and all it implied. The possibility, the surety, of a future with Harry. To finally be able to act on the love she had been feeling for him all these years. It was the sweetest carrot on her stick that kept her moving forward. Forward and around the corner to the stairs leading out to the grounds…

…and finding Harry, looking more defeated than ever.

His eyes were full of regret and longing. Feelings she had seen in those eyes before, but never at the depth she saw now. Something was terribly wrong, and a small part of her knew that the suspicion she had secretly been dreading was finally baring its teeth.

“Harry?” she asked, her steps slowing to a stop at the last step. He looked up at her, and she saw more regret cross his features, along with shame. The shame of a broken promise…

Broken with only two words.

“It’s me.”

“No…” she had whispered, her head beginning to shake. Her legs were taking short steps toward him, for that was all they could manage without collapsing beneath her. “No,” she said again.

Harry only nodded slowly, then placed his hand over the center of his chest.

“I think I’ve known for awhile…” he said, looking sadly into her eyes. Deep behind the regret, shame, and longing, she saw the love she knew was there. Her heart broke even more. “And I think you’ve known too,” he had added.

She had suspected since the after their promise. The signs were there with the locket and the way he acted with it, and she had spent a sleepless night thinking it over. She had been dreading her suspicions being confirmed, especially in light of their new promise, but she had hoped beyond hope that she was, for the first time in her life, being paranoid.

Tears now flowed freely from her eyes, blurring her vision. The words were out of her mouth before she could think to speak them.

“I’ll go with you.”

But Harry had shook his head, lifting a hand to gently wipe away her tears. He did this slowly, almost as if committing this touch to his memory. The reverence and tenderness in his caress only caused more tears to flow from Hermione, and she impacted into him. Wrapping her arms around his middle, she sobbed into his neck. Her hands gripped him tight, and she never wanted them to let go. Harry wrapped his arms around her, and her wails grew.

It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t bloody fair. They were so close to being done, so close to finally allowing themselves to hold what was always just out of our reach. Why? Why did this have to be the truth? Why was it always him? He didn’t deserve any of this. Why did he, who had been so strong and selfless throughout all of this, have to be the one Voldemort tainted with a piece of himself?

They stood like that until her tears dried. Ron had joined them partway through, for he too had realized what was going on. His tears flowed silently with hers and Harry’s.

“Kill the snake,” Harry finally whispered. Hermione only gripped him tighter, hoping to keep him with her. “Kill the snake, and then it’s just him. It will be over.” Harry pulled away slowly, and Hermione looked up to glare at him.

“You promised,” she choked out, new tears beginning to flow. Harry wiped those tears away as well, and all her anger at the unfairness of it all was wiped away with them.

“I did,” he said, sadly. “And I’m sorry. For having to break it, for not knowing sooner.” Slowly, with no small amount of help from Ron, Hermione began to loosen her grip on Harry. But before he finally left her arms, Harry tenderly placed a soft kiss on her cheek and whispered his last words to her.

“I will always love you.”

Damn him. Why did she have to hear those words now of all times? Even so, she would never forgive herself if she didn’t let him know before she died. And with him going to his death soon, she felt that she just might.

“As will I.”

Harry finally pulled away. He looked to the both of them, his truest friends, his brother in all but blood, and the love of his life. He gave them a sad wave goodbye and walked to greet his death.   
  
Hermione had never seen him walk taller or prouder…

…save for when he stood before her at the altar months later. After dying for her and coming back to life, Hermione would make sure that Harry would never have to stand tall, proud, and alone ever again.

**Author's Note:**

> Tsk, tsk, tsk.
> 
> You all should know by now that I never end in anything but fluff and happy endings.


End file.
